while climbers spend fortunes chasing the summit of Everest, a young woman named Tashi lives a completely different life at its base – a life the world rarely gets to see.
Tashi, 24, lives in a small village near Everest, on the Tibetan side of the mountain. Her husband spends summers working in Lhasa to provide income for the family, so for months at a time, it’s just her, her one-year-old son Rapten, and her parents holding everything together.
Her day starts before the sun truly rises. The first task each morning is changing her baby’s diaper, then cleaning the stove using yak dung and ash as fuel – the way families in this region have done for generations.
Let’s explore Tashi’s simple yet meaningful life.
Day in Tashi’s Life – From Dawn to Dusk
1. A Day That Starts Very Early
Every morning, before the sun properly rises, Tashi is already awake. Her first task is changing her son Rapten’s diaper. Then she gets to work cleaning the stove, using yak dung and ash as fuel. Even though gas cylinders exist, she says food cooked the traditional way just tastes better.
2. From a Student to a Homestay Owner at Everest Base Camp
Tashi only made it through high school before family responsibilities pulled her out. But instead of that being the end of her story, she opened her own homestay right at Everest Base Camp, and slowly, her family’s life has started to improve.
3. A Never-Ending List of Chores
Tashi’s mornings are a blur of cleaning, cooking, and caring for her son. But she still carves out five minutes to wash her face and put on a little makeup. She calls it her favorite part of the day – small, but hers.
4. Community Support and Cooperation
Tashi’s father, 55, heads out to help a neighbor with farming, because in this village, nobody works alone. They still use horses and yaks instead of tractors – something becoming incredibly rare even in rural Tibet.
5. Breakfast and Daily Tasks
For breakfast, Tashi makes pancakes for her son – one of the few dishes she says she’s actually good at. Her family owns eight cows, two horses, and sixty sheep, which by local standards makes them fairly well off.
She milks the animals, breastfeeds her baby, does laundry (sometimes twice a day), cooks lunch, herds sheep for an hour, and still finds time to soak her feet in a nearby hot spring with her son before heading home.
6. Evening: Music, Dance, and Family
In the evenings, her father teaches her traditional Tibetan guitar and dance – passing down what his own parents once taught him. Her mother prays quietly nearby. And by nightfall, the whole family gathers over a simple bowl of soup, ending a day most of us could never keep up with.
A Simple but Meaningful Life
No fancy schedule. No convenience. Just an entire life built around family, tradition, and the mountain watching over all of it.
Tashi’s story is a reminder that happiness doesn’t always come from lofty heights or wealth. Sometimes, it comes from the simplest things: a meal with family, a traditional dance, or a peaceful moment with a child.